Robinho set for first Milan start
MILAN - Brief news from Serie A ahead of the weekend matches:
Temperamental Brazil forward Robinho could get his first start for AC Milan when they face Catania on Saturday following an injury to fellow Brazilian Alexandre Pato.
Robinho joined Milan at the end of the transfer window following an unsuccessful spell in Emgland with Manchester City.
The former Real Madrid forward, who spent six months this year on loan in Brazil with Santos, has made two substitute appearances and may line up alongside Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack.
Injury-plagued Pato suffered a thigh strain in Wednesday's 2-0 Champions League win over Auxerre and is expected to be out for three weeks along with captain Massimo Ambrosini who was hurt in same game.
Thiago Silva, another of Milan's Brazilian contingent, should be fit after missing the Auxerre game through injury. Milan, beaten 2-0 at Cesena last week, have three points from their opening two games.
AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri has declined to comment on a newspaper interview in which forward Francesco Totti criticised the team for being too defensive in their 2-0 Champions League loss at Bayern Munich.
"I haven't read it, I don't want to comment," he said.
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Totti said: "We going back to the old catenaccio. We didn't play football, we just concerned ourselves about defending. It's always difficult to win matches when you play like that."
Roma, who have only one point, will be without Nicolas Burdisso for the visit of Bologna on Sunday after the Argentina defender was sent off for a dreadful tackle in last week's 5-1 loss at Cagliari.
European and Serie A champions Inter Milan will be without Goran Pandev for the visit to Palermo after the Macedonian striker twisted his ankle and knee in the 2-2 Champions League draw at Twente Enschede on Tuesday.
Rafael Benitez's team have four points after scraping a 2-1 win over Udinese last week.
Fiorentina, who host Lazio on Saturday, have taken only one point from two games.
"I'm not worried, we just need a spark," coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said. "We just need to improve away from home."
Alessandro del Piero has told his Juventus team-mates to improve their concentration after 3-3 home draws in their last two matches, the second against Poland's Lech Poznan in the Europa League.
"The goals were different from the ones on Sunday but they are still three. We must all be more careful and concentrated in the defence," he said.
Still winless in Serie A with one point, Juve visit Udinese on Sunday.
Chievo Verona are the only team with six points from their opening games but coach Stefano Pioli is still thinking about the relegation battle.
"Our priority is safety," he said. "We should get to 40 points as quickly as possible, that's our target." The leaders host promoted Brescia on Sunday.
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